A Little Bit of Home Gift Exchange: Style Me Bloggers Link-Up and Give Away

Shoes to Shiraz | Two Teens and their Mama | A Lovely Little Wardrobe |  R Squared  | Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy  The Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life | Quilty Joy Joy Making The Most of Everyday | Puppies and Pretties | She Thought She Could   Foxy’s Domestic Side | Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After | Sprinkled Just Right

Happy Friday, friends!

I am sitting on my back porch just loving life this morning.

Loving the breeze that is blowing, the cloudless blue sky.  Loving that I don’t have to go to work this summer (thank you, PC, for being such a good provider).  Loving that my prince and I have a whole weekend ahead to have fun and hangout.  Hope you are having a beautiful morning in your world, too.

Today my Style Me Bloggers soul sisters (how’s that for some alliteration?) and I are linking up to share the goodies we received from our secret pal for a “see how we share our home” gift exchange.  And I was so blessed with the thought-filled treats I received.

This is the second gift exchange we have done in our close-knit group.  You can check out the first gift exchange here.  My gifter the first time was Sarah over at Foxy’s Domestic Side.  She hooked me up with all kinds of summer fun stuff that I can now use on our trip to Galveston next month. Thank you, love!

Both times we have used Elfster.com to simplify and add to the fun of the exchange.  Elfster.com is a FREE gift exchange website and allows users to make wish lists, set up gift exchanges and Secret Santa, and offers lots of shopping tips and ideas.

Check it out here.

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My gifter for this exchange was Alison at Puppies & Pretties.

And boy, did she treat me to a very special taste of her home.

Before I share the pictures of my goody box, I think I should share that I am the grandma of this group.  I am decidedly older than all of my blogging buddies.  I don’t really feel that way in my heart but my brain knows better.  Several of the gals could be, well, probably my granddaughters.  And I feel a kind of maternal attachment to them.  Alison is one of those that I want to mother or grand-mother.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of stopping by her blog, remedy that today and give yourself that treat.  She is a breath of fresh air.  And her outfits reflect the sweet, gentle person she is.

Here I am about to open my box.  Alison is so together!  I received this gift weeks ago.  But I was a good, good, girl and didn’t open it until today’s reveal.  Not to say that I didn’t shake it (gently) and smell it and turn it round and round, trying to get a clue what was packaged inside.

Please excuse the way I look, I am fresh from the shower, sans make up or a hair brush.

Slowly, slowly, I opened the box.  And took pictures, so you could share in the experience.

At this point, I am already really liking what I see.

Just not quite sure what that is yet.

Just look what was inside!

Minnesota grown and made strawberry jam.  My absolute favorite flavor of jam. She mentioned the apple jelly is good, too.  Going to be so good on my Sunday morning biscuits.  Couldn’t find a webpage to share with you for the little business that creates this yumminess.

Pumpkin Thyme scented candle from Country Corn Crib.  It smells so good that I might almost be tempted to put it on my biscuits, too.  With a delicious fragrance like that, you know it has to taste good.  Alison says that this crafty place is only open part of the year but I found them online at http://www.countrycorncrib.com/.  As soon as I finish here, I am going to run over there to peruse their shop.  Truly, this candle smells amazing.  I think I stuck my face so deep into the jar that I am now wearing just a bit of wax on my nose.  Yum.

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Hand-crafted goats milk, honey and oatmeal soap.  Oh, do I love handmade soap.  And I love the brown paper wrapping (tied-up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!) and the pretty label that reads “artfully handcrafted”.  I looked on the web for their online store but it is temporarily closed until fall 2015.  The owners are off enjoying life.  Good for them.  I am really bad about using things that I receive because I want to treasure them for always.  So I didn’t rip open the wrapping on the soap just yet.  (Might be tempted to taste if I did)  But I will.  And I know I will find something that reflects mid-west wholesomeness and hard-work inside this specially wrapped bar.  Stay tuned.  I will try to remember to take a pic when I first use the soap but for now I am just going to enjoy looking at the pretty wrapping.

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I looked on the web for their online store but it is temporarily closed until fall 2015.  The owners are off enjoying life.  Good for them.  I will bookmark their webpage at http://www.bare-naturals.com/ so I can visit them this autumn.

What a thoughtful box of a bit of Alison’s home.  Thank you so much, sweet one, for the gifts.

But most of all, thank you for the note.

Alison explains her personal connection to each of the items she selected for me.

And that makes them all the more heart-warming.

The goats milk soap reminds her of a goat she won through 4-H in fourth grade which was also the beginning of her family having goats.  I haven’t thought of 4-H in years, but thinking of it today took me back to my high school days.  My sweet first boyfriend Glen was in Future Farmers of America (something like 4-H, I think) and gave me his FFA jacket to wear.

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Alison mentioned in her note that she has fond memories of picking strawberries so selected this flavor of jelly for me.  I have fond memories of picking berries, too.  Years ago when I was a child in Bartlett, Tennessee.  I would ride my bike in the summer on the back roads of Bartlett and stop sometimes to pick wild blackberries off the wine, oops vine, and eat them.  I do like blackberry wine, too!

The pumpkin-thyme candle comes from one of Alison’s favorite crafty-stores.  It reminds me of fall, my favorite time of year, and of the fun of going back to school, Halloween with the girls and even recently with PC, Thanksgiving, family.  Fond family recollections.

Alison, you gave me so much more than just jam, soap and wax.  You gave me a bit of your home, your heart and rekindled some beautiful memories that had become a little dusty in my cob-webbed head.  Consider yourself hugged.

Much love to you!

 Be sure to visit the blogs of my soul sisters from the links provided above to check out the thoughtful gifts they received in our exchange.

Please link up with us if you would like to share a special gift or memory with us.

And register for our giveaway.

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Hug a friend and have a blessed weekend.

Hugs and kisses,